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Version: Ceres 6

SJC - Preparing For Year End Physical Inventory

Preparing for Physical Inventory while coping with emergency response workloads is a challenge. This document is designed to help you identify the physical "catch up" tasks that may be needed to get ready for a year end full physical.

General Recommendations​

  • Plan first, then execute - You may have more buildings and more product on hand than ever before. Planning at least a week out will help you execute at year end with fewer hiccups.

  • Identify the involved staff early, so you can learn and practice any changes to the standard process.

  • Make a detailed timeline for the days leading up to the count, counting, and any audit. Bonus if you can factor in the results of a practice pre-count extrapolated to the full scope.

  • Engage your auditors early if they normally validate your count – will they be onsite this year? If they are, what process do they expect to follow? If they will be remote, what do they suggest as an approach for their oversight?

  • Inform any offsite Storage partners if you need to count the inventory at their site.

  • If this is your first time executing a count with your current ERP version, plan time to execute a small pre-count to try out the system processes in alignment with your physical counting/ re-count/ reconciliation efforts. If you use Ceres, there are user group presentations and procedures that cover preparation and execution on the Hungernet Ceres page. If you use Primarius, they have detailed steps for a count available via the Primarius Help database, and they have User classes on Physical Inventory offered via Primarius University.

Clean Up - now until count​

  • Start looking for pallets/ product that needs to be disposed prior to inventory. Repeat. Repeat. Pro tip – don’t skip the back corner of the cooler or the pallets in the push back racks in the freezer. Get it out the door and adjusted out of your ERP before the count.

  • Make sure your pallet locations (bins) are labelled with a legible address for the count team to reference. If you need lane labels for areas on the floor, traffic cones with foam core placards with a label affixed is a speedy and inexpensive option.

  • Tag all your Pallets – you can start NOW ensuring that pallets are tagged when received or created. Then you have fewer pallets to find and update each day. The extra effort to catch them as they are received or built is worth it, promise. Providing the full pallet Quantity on the Pallet in large font on each shrink-wrapped pallet can make counting easier.

    • Best – a ERP system tag with the Item/ Product and Lot/ Receipt

    • Good – Manual Tag with the Item/ Product and Receipt Date

    • Better than nothing – Manual Tag with the Item/ Product identified

  • Acquire supplies and equipment needed to support the count early so you can try them out via a pre-count. Some potential needs:

    • Markers/ dots to label counted pallets

    • Clipboards/ pens or scanners, depending on your capabilities in that building

    • Manlifts/ cherry pickers so staff can quickly count upper racks

    • Radios or cell phones for team communication

Simplify finding and counting pallets​

  • Make a map of the buildings/ zones and pallet locations you need to count or validate. Then the count sheets can align with those areas so you have less chance of missing some racks/ pallets. In a time of emergency response, mapping the physical locations to validate and aligning with a count process can help ensure you will catch pallets that made it past the receiving or build process in the ERP. Product that your ERP never knew about will not show on a count sheet.

  • Move like with like if you can. Move pallets of the same Item/ Product or even better the Lot/ Receipt together to make it easier to count and validate for that Item. If you count at the pallet level this is not needed as much.

  • Optional – fill the floor locations with pallets. Once you are done shipping out/ receiving the last inventory before the count, it may be worthwhile to drop unusual configuration pallets to the floor so that they can be counted manually with less effort. You may also want to spread out any pyramid stacked pallets for validation of individual pallet quantities. If you have a bunch of lifts to get staff up to upper racks, lucky you, and you can ignore this recommendation.

Practice with pre-count(s)​

  • Select a building or area from your map where you can freeze movements on that inventory a bit earlier than the full count.

  • Execute your full inventory count process, scaled down for this area. You may want to repeat it a couple times to let different teams practice counting/ updating the ERP/ recounting etc.

  • Keep track of how long it took to execute the process from start to finish, including reconciliation. Then extrapolate from there to your full volume of addresses and/ or pallet

  • Once you have an extrapolated duration, let your staff know and plan for count coverage for all the days you need.